One of ten children of a poor Spanish immigrant father and Irish mother, Sheen got his start on Broadway, where he won a Tony Award for his role in The Subject Was Roses (1964). From there, he moved on to soaps (As the World Turns, The Edge of Night ) and then on to dozens of television appearances. Though he appeared on the big screen sporadically (Catch-22 1970, Rage 1972, Badlands 1973), his first starring role came with Francis Ford Coppola's Apocalypse Now (1979). He has since appeared in Wall Street (1987), The American President (1997), A Letter from Death Row (1998), Stranger in the Kingdom (1998). He returned to television playing the president of the United States in the series The West Wing (1999–). All of Sheen's four children are actors, including Emilio Estevez and Charlie Sheen.